


Future lies in the Past

by nikscoolg



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Clexa forever, Endgame Clarke Griffin/Lexa, F/F, No praimfaya, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-02-23 02:33:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13180530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikscoolg/pseuds/nikscoolg
Summary: Clarke had many regrets. Worst of all is not being able to save the girl she loves the most and even more is not telling her that she loves her. What if she found a chance to do it over again? At what lengths would she go to correct her mistakes and get the happily ever after that she wants? Because she now realises that her ‘Maybe someday’ would never come if Lexa isn’t by her side.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing fanfiction and I dont have beta reader. All mistakes are my own.

Just after pulling the kill switch in the City of Light, Becca told Clarke to find her diary. She had placed it in the escape pod she had used to come to Earth. She had not been able to explain to why that was necessary before Clarke come out of the City of Light. Nevertheless, Clarke decided to search for it.

 

The last few hours had been blurry for Clarke. Between helping the injured and answering the questions relating to the City of Light, she was never alone. Now she was exhausted and past few day’s events had caught up with her.

 

The blonde haired girl had managed to keep the flame with her. Clarke knew if the grounders found that she had the flame then they would take it from her. However, she could not part with it. It is the last piece she had of Lexa. And she would not give it up without a fight.

 

Clarke had watched Lexa lay still and devoid of any breath. There she had finally admitted, at least to herself, that she loved Lexa. In fact, she still does. Seeing those green eyes without their usual spark of life was like a punch to the gut. It was not that long ago when those eyes held so much love for her. She had been an idiot because she had not recognized for what it was. Lexa's, 'that's why you're you.' held not only a message that she loved Clarke but it was an act to protect Lexa herself from rejection. Because up until then Clarke had not shown Lexa that, she had in fact forgiven Lexa. Let alone the fact that her feelings were reciprocated.

 

Now she would never be able to tell her that. With these thoughts, the blue-eyed girl broke down crying. She was grieving for her lost love. It was hours later before she fell asleep drained from crying.

 

* * *

 

Clarke woke up the next day feeling more drained than the day before. She had tossed and turned while trying to sleep. Nightmares and memories had plagued her all night. Without looking at herself, she knew that her eyes would be red and puffy. Her appearance disheveled. But the blonde did not care about that. Since she knew she would not be able to fall back asleep now, she thought might as well get up.

 

She had not gotten an opportunity to find the book Becca had told her about yesterday. She did not want to tell anyone about this because she had a feeling that she should do this alone and not get anybody involved.

 

She had to dodge a number of people to get to the floor where Titus’ room was. However, the area near the room in which the escape pod was, had been deserted. Clarke let out a relieved and a grateful sigh. Explaining what she was doing in this room would be very difficult. She entered the room silently.

 

The room was filled with some sort of consoles, which were being used as candleholders and many candles. She found the escape pod in the corner of the room. Clarke, ignoring everything else, directly went to the pod and examined it. Becca had not told her where exactly she would find the book. If the book had been laying around then Titus or anybody else could have easily found it.

 

She examined every inch of the pod. She searched inside and outside for any indications of hidden compartment but there were none. Dejected, Clarke sat down on the seat inside the pod holding her head. It had been three hours since she had entered this room and had not found anything. Just as she was about to abandon her search, she saw on the floor a hole roughly in the shape of a chip.

 

On a hunch, she removed the ALIE 2.0 chip from the casing she had placed it in yesterday and looked at it intently. She laid the chip in the hole and it fit perfectly as if it was made for it.

 

Clarke did not know why but she said, “Ascende Superius” and the chip activated. The area around the chip glowed for few seconds. Then the tile slid back a couple of inches revealing a small compartment in the escape pod. When she looked inside it, she found two small cases and a book wrapped in a bundle of cloth.

 

She quickly emptied the contents of the compartment and slipped them inside her coat. She would go over them later on. Anyone can stumble upon this room and find her. She had been in this room long enough. She needed to leave soon. However, she needed to close this compartment and get back the chip. There was no way she was willing to leave it behind.

 

Since the compartment opened with the password, it may close with one as well. Clarke thought to try that out and uttered "quia nunc vale"

 

The compartment closed with slight noise and she removed the chip from the hole. She placed a kiss on the chip that held a piece of her love. Then she carefully and reverently placed the chip back in its casing.

 

As she was leaving the room, she ran into Bellamy. It looked as if he was searching for something. Knowing her luck, Clarke knew there was a high possibility that it would be her. She did not know what to think of him. He had been the one who had betrayed her to Pike. He had been the one who had helped in killing 300 of the peacekeeping force in their sleep. They were there to help protect them and had died needlessly.

 

“Clarke! There you are. I have been looking for you for a while. We were heading back to Arkadia.” Bellamy’s voice grated in her ears.

 

“So?” She asked. Clarke wondered why he would search for her just to tell that. She already knew that they would head back today, as they were needed at Arkadia.

 

“So come on lets go. Everyone is waiting for you.” The brown-eyed boy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He was impatiently waiting for her to go with him.

 

“No. You go ahead. I am not coming.” Clarke did not want to go back to Arkadia. She had left them for a reason. She did not belong with them anymore. To see their faces every day and be reminded of what she had to do to protect them. Further, she could not reconcile them now with what they were before, after everything that had happened over there.

 

“What! Where would you go Clarke? We need you. There is rebuilding to be done. Besides that do you really think that these grounders would let you stay here after everything?” Bellamy said in disbelief.

 

“No they would not.” She agreed that these people would let her stay here in Polis but she was adamant in not going back with her people. “But its hardly my fault that there is rebuilding to be done at Arkadia, Bellamy! I might not be able to stay here but I am not coming with you.” Clarke said with finality. She turned around and left him in the middle of corridor.

 

Bellamy was shocked at her behavior but snapped out of it when she left him. He jogged after her and stopped her by grabbing her forearm. “Don’t you try and leave everything on me again. I did whatever I could do. And where will you go?” Bellamy was annoyed at her for trying to run away again.

 

Clarke let out a sigh and told him, “You are not alone. Kane and my mom are there to help. But, I will not come with you. I have had enough of cleaning all the mess our people get into.” She was adamant in her decision. She snatched her arm out of his grasp and walked outside towards the entrance. He followed her.

 

Once they reach outside, they split up. Clarke went towards the stables and Bellamy went towards the corner where Kane and Abby were waiting. After Abby saw Clarke going in opposite direction, she looked questioningly in Bellamy’s direction. He just shook his head and gave a shrug in answer. Kane placed a supportive hand on Abby’s shoulder when they all saw Clarke leaving riding on a horse.

 

* * *

  

Clarke rode her horse up until the dusk. She did not which direction she was heading but knew that she needed to get away from there. She could not go to Arkadia but she could also not stay at Polis either. Equally, the places are very dear to her but right now, both of them hold very painful memories. In both the places she lost the person, she loves the most. It would be agonizing to stay at either of the place.

 

She spotted a cave nearby where she decided to halt for the night. She tied the horse at the entrance and went inside to explore it. The place was dark and she knew that later on in the night she would not be able to see at all inside the cave. She decided to start a fire and quickly gathered wood for it.

 

Sitting at the entrance of the cave and watching the sky fill with stars Clarke let her thoughts wander. When the blonde had seen the commander in the City of light, she could not have believed it. Many things had been left unsaid between them. She thought that she would have more time with her. But as they say, life is unfair. Soon this hope was cruelly snatched off from her. Before pulling the kill switch, she had told ALIE that one does not ease the pain but overcomes it. She was correct because she did not want to ease the pain by forgetting Lexa. Not even a moment of it. The good times as well as the bad. If she had decided to forget the pain then it would amount to forgetting her as well.

 

It was tempting. So very tempting, to stay inside the City of Light with Lexa. However, she knew that she could not do that. If she had then she would be disrespecting the legacy left by Lexa and destroying everything Lexa stood for. She made the decision with her head and not with her heart. Just like once Lexa had done. Clarke now understood how difficult that decision had been for the commander.

 

Ever since Lexa’s death, Clarke had always regretted how she had treated the other girl and how much time she had lost by holding on to petty anger. Time that could have been spent with her. Lexa had been correct when she had stated that Clarke would have taken the deal to protect her people if the same was offered to her.

 

The blonde was jolted out of her musings when she remembered Becca’s book. Quickly emptying the contents of her coat, she ignored the two cases and went straight to the book.

 

After reading few pages, Clarke found that the book contained the both ALIE and ALIE 2.0 code in it. She would have bet anything that Raven could have used it to make the kill switch for ALIE using Arkadia’s mainframe. ‘If only we knew about this book before.’ Clarke thought bitterly. Many lifes could have been saved. ‘No use crying over spilt milk.’ She sighed. She continued flipping the pages of the book to find something interesting. She was about halfway through the book before she stumbled upon it.

 

Clarke started reading the passage from the diary. _'There was no use coming back to the Earth. Almost all of the technology here is wrecked and without access to the mainframe ALIE is using, I will not be able to destroy it. If I came before the bombing then I could have done that._

_I knew this possibility before coming to Earth but I had hoped that it would not come to that. However, I had started an experiment. If this experiment is successful then I will be able to rectify the mistake I made by letting ALIE destroy the earth's population. By injecting the nightblood serum and placing the ALIE 2.0 inside me, I will be able to activate the experiment. The ALIE 2.0 and the nightblood will store my memories. The chip I developed would help in transporting them to the past. I have not been able to test this but if I am successful then I will be able to save many lives._

_This experiment is dangerous though. There are no guarantees that it will be a success or that there will be any other unforeseeable consequences. Because I am going use the nightblood to go back, it will change my blood in the past as well to cope with the memory transportation. What complication that may arise due to that is uncertain but it would be worth it._

_All my calculations tell me that there is only a small frame of time, that I will be able to transport my memories back to past. It shows that hypothetically I will be able to travel only couple of months back into past. I need to increase the timeframe or else I will not be able to make it back before the bombing.'_

 

 _I_ _am going to get only one chance to get this right as using the chip would release toxins that a human body would not be able to handle. I would be essentially be poisoning myself.’_ The next few pages disclosed the detailed method of conducting the experiment.

 

'Becca must have not been able to increase the timeframe it seems.' thought Clarke. The outcome of bombing had not changed after all. ‘But it is also possible that she was not able to complete the experiment or that it had failed. There is nothing mentioned about its success.’

 

'Wait! If I were to use this method then I will be able to go back before ALIE takes over. I will be able to save many people from her. Maybe I'll be able to save her.' She thought. A small spark of hope ignited inside her before it was ruthlessly squashed. ‘For me to conduct this experiment, I will require nightblood. And since Ontari is dead, I will not be able to use blood exchange to get the nightblood flowing in me again.’ Clarke thought dejectedly. ‘This is useless.’ She threw the book away in anger.

 

She miserably clutched her hair. It was a while before her gaze fell on the cases, she had ignored earlier. When she opened one, it contained an injection with black liquid in it. On top, it was neatly labeled as ‘serum’. She hastily opened the other case and found a chip inside. From the descriptions in the book, Clarke determined that it was Nightblood serum and the TARDIS like chip in the cases.

 

A small smile formed on her face, which turned, into full-blown relieved laughter. It had been a while since Clarke had laughed this freely.

 

'But if the experiment had failed and fails again then there is a possibility that I'll die.' Clarke thought with a frown. 'It would be worth it though if I can have a chance. Nothing is same after she died. Moreover, after seeing her in the City of Light and after admitting to her that I love her nothing will be same. If I have any chance to save her then I'll take it.' Determination filled her. She would not fail, as failure was not an option.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments, kudos and hits. I had never expected such a response when I had posted this story. I really appreciate the support. This story is not beta read so all mistakes are my own. As my birthday is on 9th, I am giving you this chapter as a present.

It took more than a day to study the process of transporting her memories. There was not much to do on her part but Clarke wanted to make sure that she would not miss anything. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes and therefore she read the book thoroughly. She knew that if there was even a small error on her part, it would cost her dearly.

 

Ever since she found the book and realized the chance she got, she had been having second thoughts. Many things could go wrong even if she got back in time. Things can easily be messed up if she made a mistake. What ifs surrounded her mind, making her falter in her steps.

 

Clarke shook her head to clear her mind. She would not back off now. She will do this for Lexa. She will make sure that she lives.

 

Clarke injected the nightblood serum in her forearm before she could back out of the plan. It took a few moments but she could feel the serum flowing slowly in her body. She waited for a while before she pricked her finger with the knife she had on her. She needed to make sure that the serum was working, as she desired. Black blood oozed from the cut made and it made her lips curl into a small smile. The serum had worked. It turned her blood into nightblood.

 

She activated the Flame in her. It took a few seconds to orient herself. Nevertheless, she steadied her posture. Now the only thing remaining is to activate the chip. She took the chip out of the case and looked at it intently.

 

“Alright. Its now or never. There would be no going back.” Clarke muttered to herself feeling nervousness catching up to her. She closed her eyes to center herself and before she could doubt herself anymore, she activated the chip inside her by following the directions written in the book. She was grateful that the password for activating the chip was mentioned in this book and she did not have to make guesses like they had to previously with the flame.

 

For a moment, nothing seemed to occur. She could hear the chirping of the birds, rustling of the leaves and the usual forest sounds. Everything appeared to be normal. It was as if nothing momentous was going to happen. As seconds ticked away, Clarke became more worried that something was wrong. Somehow she made a mistake in the following the instructions of the experiment.

 

Just as she was about to reach out towards the book, Clarke felt a sharp pain in the back of her head causing her to screw her eyes shut. She clutched her head with both of her hands as though it would elevate the pain. The pain was coming from where she had placed the flame and the chip. She was swaying from side to side. She slowly sat down on the floor of the cave with her back against the wall so that she could remove the weight from her trembling legs. Her breathing had become erratic. It was as though she could not get enough air inside her lungs. She was starting to get lightheaded.

 

She did not know when she had laid down on the ground. However, when her eyes squinted for an instant, she found herself sprawled down on the floor. She immediately closed her eyes as another wave of pain hit her. Moans left her throat. She tried to contain her screams but whimpers left her lips.

 

It could be minutes, hours or days since Clarke started the process of time travel before she lost consciousness. Her heartbeat slowed down as time passed and then ended.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile in the medical bay of Mount Weather, Dr. Tsing had re-sewed Clarke's stitches and had just left the wing. Clarke felt an electric current pass through her body. It seemed all the cells in her body were burning. An intense pounding in her head started. Blood had started dripping from her nose. Clarke clutched the bed sheets under her in pain.

 

A low groan left her lips when she opened her eyes and the room came into view. She wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand and found that it was black. Her blood had transformed. It didn't surprise her because the book had mentioned it could possibly happen after she taken the chip and activated it.

 

Clarke looked around her surroundings to orient herself as to where or for that matter when was. As she turned her head to side, she found the Mount Weather guard besides her. She realized when she was.

 

‘I had hoped for more time but I will not complain.’ thought Clarke.

 

At this point of time, people in charge of Mount Weather were very suspicious of her. She could not stay here much longer. If she did then she would be killed to keep the delinquents in line and unsuspecting of their crimes. If she had gone further back then she could have helped everyone to get outside by staying undercover inside. But that is not possible. She needs to escape before they kill her.

 

Furthermore, she needs to go now and stop Finn from killing the grounders for no reason. That massacre caused a lot of suspicion and misgiving by the grounders. Even before that, the grounders did not have any fondness towards them. However, things could have been salvageable if not for that massacre. Looking back, she should have known that if given a chance the alliance would have been destroyed by either of the side. It had been built upon blood and death. The only reason it held that long was out of sheer necessity to bring down a common enemy.

 

She did not know how long she had been laying here for or when the doctor would come back to make her rounds. Undeniably sometime must have gone by since the doctor had stitched her wound. For all she knew by now last time, she could have already left the Mount Weather with Anya. It surprised her that she had been able to hold in a scream but was thankful that she had not drawn attention towards herself.

 

Clarke got off the bed and went towards the ventilation that led to the cages. She made sure that nobody was watching her and left the medical bay. She reached the harvest chamber in few minutes.

 

It was same just like she remembered but there was one difference. Clarke saw Dr. Tsing standing near cages. Clarke was glad that the rattling noise from the cages masked her exit from the vent. She quickly hid from the other woman’s sight.

 

Monty and Bellamy had mentioned about the doctor’s cruelty on the trek back from the mountain. This woman was instrumental in finding the bone marrow cure for the radiation problem. This woman is responsible for many deaths and would be responsible for many more including her friends. Lincoln had briefly mentioned that she was the one that marked him for the Cerberus project that turned him into a reaper. The doctor was ready to sacrifice the 47 before and would have done anything to get on the ground. And she would do that again.

 

As far as Clarke knew, mountain men required the doctor to find a permanent solution for their radiation problem and there is a possibility that she may have already found about bone marrow extraction by now. If she was killed then it might slow them down but it would not stop them. There might be other doctors in this mountain who would be able to work in her place. Would killing her amount to changing everything too much and too soon?

 

The decision was taken out of Clarke’s hands as Dr. Tsing turned around. She was facing roughly in the direction where Clarke was and searching as though she had seen someone. The grounders in the cages had already spooked the woman.

 

Without giving the doctor any time to call reinforcements, Clarke tackled Dr. Tsing on the ground. This forced all the air out of the doctor’s lungs. Taking advantage of the woman’s disorientation, Clarke straddled her. She used both of her hands to start strangling the doctor. She made sure to put pressure on the windpipe so that no screams for help could escape Tsing’s mouth.

 

Despite the pain, woman tried to dislodge the other girl off her by thrashing from side to side. Dr. Tsing tried to pry Clarke’s fingers away from her throat. The doctor was desperately gasping for air. She tried to claw into Clarke’s wound but the grip on her esophagus remained tight. After a few moments, the thrashing was slowing down. It seemed that fight was draining from the doctor.

 

"Tell me something Dr. Tsing would this bleeding project come to an end if I just killed you now?" Clarke’s voice had been low but everyone nearby in the cages could hear her. Whispers broke out around them. She released the pressure on the doctor’s throat a bit so the other woman could talk.

 

Tsing immediately drew in fresh air in her lungs but then there was a flash of fear in her eyes as understanding dawned on her. “No… It wouldn't stop. There are other doctors who can continue the project. Let me go. There is no need to kill me.” choked out Tsing desperately.

 

Clarke let out a fake disappointed sigh, curled her digits around the doctor’s neck, pressing, closing with more strength than before, and said, “Thought so. Tell me where a detailed map of this mountain is so that I can get out of here. Tell me now!”

 

‘It will also help to break in later.’ Clarke thought while smirking internally. She had thrown her the map before but it only contained the basic areas and no exit points. Maybe Tsing will be able to provide her one that illustrated ways to get in and out of the mountain and all the high security and restricted areas.

 

“Inside the desk.” The doctor gasped out in reply. Clarke did not release her grip on the neck. Then all of a sudden, she pulled back and Dr. Tsing started coughing at the released pressure on her neck. Clarke immediately banged the doctor’s head against the cage hard. It caused the doctor to pass out clutching her head. Clarke made sure that Tsing was actually knocked out before moving away from her.

 

She ripped out a pipe and went to the cage where Anya was being held. Clarke looked into other woman’s eyes and promised, “I’ll get you out of here.” She proceeded to break the lock on the cage with the pipe. It took a few tries but she was successful and then helped the grounder out of the cage. Even though Anya looked weakened, she stood on her legs without any support. However, she wearily looked around her.

 

Clarke quickly moved towards the lone desk in the chamber ignoring the unconscious woman on the floor. She searched the desk for the map and anything that could be useful. She found few maps but they were not as detailed as she had hoped. It showed the layout of each floor in the mountain meticulously. It, however, did not show the tunnel passages or area around the mountain.

 

Unbeknownst to Clarke, Anya eyed the doctor’s knocked out form in frown and a moment later took the unconscious head in her hands. She twisted it with a surprising force that loud crack resounded in the room. Clarke whipped her head at the source of noise and found that Anya had killed Dr. Tsing by breaking her neck.

 

Anya looked into Clarke’s eyes defiantly, daring her to protest and muttered in a gruff voice, “Jus drein jus daun.” Everyone in the cages started cheering and repeated the chant of ‘Blood must have Blood’ in trigedasleng.

 

Clarke held the glaze unblinkingly and replied after a while in a calm tone. “Hide the body in your cage so that the mountain men would waste time in searching for her.” Anya widened her eyes at the unexpected response but complied. Soon the body was stored in the cage. Try as she might but Clarke could not bring herself to feel for the doctor’s death especially when moments ago she herself was contemplating to kill the doctor.

 

Placing the procured maps in a plastic bag, Clarke gestured Anya to move towards the door, which marked ‘End containment area.’ However, Anya hesitated and looked around the room. However, she followed the other girl.

 

They both were dropped into a mining cart after the door closed behind them. Clarke quickly jumped out from it and went towards the nearby pile of clothes. She changed her clothes and shoved the plastic bag containing maps inside the pocket of the stolen jacket. She gathered another pile of clothes and shoved them in Anya’s hands.

 

Glancing at the clothes for a moment, Anya stated to Clarke with determination, “I will not leave my people behind.”

 

Clarke needed Anya so that she could help her form an alliance between their people. For that to happen, they have to get out of this mountain. “Get dressed.” Clarke ordered. Anya narrowed her eyes at the command. Before she could open her mouth to protest, Clarke said, “I am not asking you to leave them behind. But tell me, how are you going to accomplish your task alone? They’ll kill you even before you reach those cages. As much as I want to stay, I am going to get help. Will you come with me or not?”

 

With that, Clarke left. She won’t force Anya to come with her. There is no way she would be able to drag the other woman away if she is stubborn and determined to stay.

 

* * *

 

Clarke had taken the familiar path straight towards the reapers as she had done before. Similar to the previous timeline, the reapers surrounded her. The two mountain men in hazmat suits using a tone generator held them off just as she was hoping when she had heard their footsteps few tunnels ahead. They were taking her back inside to the harvest chamber. When they turned around a corner, Clarke decided to strike.

 

She kicked the man who was on her right in the back of his knee and pushed him towards the other man in left. Clarke snatched the gun from his hand and without any hesitation fired it at both the men. It didn't matter whether she aimed to kill because the bullets tore open their suits. They slowly started burning due to radiation.

 

She pulled of their masks just to be sure that they would be killed and started searching their pockets. Clarke found tone generator and a radio. One of the guns she acquired from the mountain men was a sleeping dart gun. They wanted her alive it seemed. The other though had bullets in it. She quickly placed the radio in the plastic bag besides maps she had acquired. She removed one sleeping dart from the gun and then placed the gun inside the bag. She did not want to use the dart again on Anya but it was better to be ready. Her idea to acquire a tone generator was successful.

 

Clarke held the tone generator in one hand and gun in other. She ran away from there because she knew that soon more mountain men would come. She managed to create quite a bit of distance between herself and the bodies she had scavenged. Suddenly there was a loud thud behind her. Clarke swiftly turned around and pointed the gun towards the source of noise.

 

“So you decided to join me.” Clarke let a small smirk out at the figure in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment. I hope you love to read my story as much as I loved writing it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! As always this chapter is unbetaed.

Clarke had found Anya in front of her. She had jumped from the ceiling where she had perched. Apparently she had been waiting for Clarke to run pass her. Though it seems that the woman had not seen the gun in the blonde’s hands or else she would have never approached the girl.

 

Anya opened her mouth to give a snarky reply but before she could, they heard footsteps approaching them. Anya ran away from the mountain men with Clarke closely following her.

 

“I found a way out this way!” Anya kept running. Clarke noted that the path they had taken was roughly towards the dam.

 

‘They are tracking us.’ Clarke thought as they were running.

 

Before escaping the tunnels, Clarke needed to convince Anya to take out the tracking bug from her forearm or else the mountain men would follow them all around the forest. Clarke really did not want to repeat that experience. She stopped Anya in a corner after making sure that enough distance between them and their pursuers.

 

Clarke checked herself for any trackers that might be placed on her person but found none. She had not found any last time but still needed to make sure that she had not missed one.

 

“What are you doing? Let me go. They will find us.” Anya was annoyed because the girl stopped her at gunpoint. However, she was also curious as to what the skaigada was up to now to take a halt at this time.

 

“It is not me they are tracking. Quick! Check for any unusual bumps on your body. Tracker should be just under your skin.” Clarke explained her actions.

 

Anya looked skeptical and thought that Clarke was lying. Anya point black refused to search for the tracker. Clarke spent at least minute to convince the grounder that the mountain men used that device to track people. She tried to explain that even if she manages to get out of the mining tunnels and into the forest, they would still follow her. Anya looked far from convince but at the urging from Clarke and the threat that the mountain men would follow her to her village and her people, she complied.

 

This time Clarke was not shocked when Anya ripped the tracker out of her forearm. As soon as the tracker was out, Clarke led the other woman away from the dam.

 

“We can’t go that way as they will go in that direction.” Clarke explained the change in directions to Anya. The other woman gave a curt nod in reply. They both barely managed to hide from the mountain men. The Mount Weather guards passed the area where they were. It would take only few minutes before the guards reach the place where the thrown tracker was. Clarke knew that it wouldn’t be long before they realize that they can’t track them and would send bigger search parties and maybe even reapers too to capture them.

 

* * *

 

Even though both Clarke and Anya did not have any tracker on them, they proceeded cautiously inside the tunnels.

 

“So what made you join me?” Clarke was curious whether Anya would try to take her as a prisoner again. The grounder’s eyes narrowed at the question but stated, “I did not join you.” Even at Clarke’s pointed and disbelieved look, she remained quiet and did not elaborate.

 

They walked silently for few minutes before Clarke spoke again, “Is it because you wanted to take me as a prisoner?” Anya for a moment looked ready to bite her head off but then schooled her features and said stoically, “You burned 300 of my warriors. I can’t show my face without a prize.”

 

Clarke just nodded as if she was expecting the reply and thought, ‘Some things, it seems are going to remain the same’

 

“Would you be able to show your face if you brought information about the mountain?” Anya remained stoic but Clarke could see that she was considering the repercussions. Clarke remained silent so that the other woman could contemplate the offer.

 

“What exactly are you trying to imply? I know why you are keeping me alive. You need me to take you back to your people as I know all the traps around and without me, you will never be able to make it back. But if you think that bringing me back as hostage to stop the war you started then think again. Jus drein jus daun.”

 

Clarke chuckled, ‘At least this time she didn’t call me weak. Well, not yet. Probably because of the gun in my hands.’ Anya glared at her in return at the perceived insult because she thought that the other girl was laughing at her.

 

The blonde caught her glaring and explained the reason for her mirth, “You are correct in assuming that I need you but you forget that you need me as well. I could tell your leader what has been happening inside to your people. I want to get my people out and so do you. We can work together.” Clarke needed to convince Anya to gain an audience with the Commander.

 

* * *

 

Clarke and Anya were running through the tunnels for a while. Anya had not spoken anything about working together but Clarke could see the wheels turning in the grounder’s mind. The place was a maze. Even with her prior knowledge, Clarke couldn’t get around the tunnels. Suddenly they heard grunts, moans, and loud footfalls coming from ahead.

 

They peered around the corner to see what was happening. There were two reapers moving away in the direction Clarke was sure that was roughly going towards the harvest chamber. The reapers were as she remembered them. Covered in blood and wearing ripped out clothes. They were carrying their tied up prisoners with them.

 

Clarke noted that mountain men did not accompany them. This caused her to form a plan to free the prisoners and find a way out of the tunnels without having to jump from the dam into the river. She knew that she would not drown but it would surely damage the tone generator that she had acquired.

 

She took the tone generator out of her pocket and ran after the reapers. She could hear Anya let out curses at her for being foolish. The reapers sensing her turned around with a feral roar. But before they could attack her she turned on the switch. Both the reapers fell on their knees clutching their heads and backed off from the girl.

 

"We need to free them." Was all Clarke said as she started freeing the grounders. One by one both Anya and Clarke removed the binds from the two prisoners. The reapers had bound them very tightly. Once the two grounders had been freed, they both looked wearily at Clarke and the gun in her hand.

 

Clarke moved towards the last bound person. When she removed the sack from the third prisoners face, she let out a gasp and muttered “Lincoln” in shock. Last time she had seen him was when she and her friends had to light his funeral pyre after Pike had executed him.

 

‘What were the odds of me finding him?’, was the thought running inside Clarke’s head.

 

Clarke had never expected to find Lincoln in the tunnels. In fact, she was resigned that she would have to cure him from being a reaper. But she was glad that he would not have to go through that again. Being a reaper had been hard on him and she would not wish that fate on anyone especially him.

 

“Clarke! Onya!” Lincoln looked at both of them in confusion. This snapped Clarke out of her shock.

 

Anya yelled “Natrona!” when she caught the sight of Lincoln. Clarke stopped Anya from causing him any harm. Anya was very annoyed at that but now was not the time to fight amongst themselves.

 

If the reapers were moving in this direction then they had to leave immediately. More reapers would come or worse the mountain men would. They would not be able to escape from the gas grenades or the sleeping darts. Clarke quickly questioned the freed grounders, “We need to get out of the tunnels before the mountain men come. Do any of you know which way you came from?”

 

The two grounders looked confused but Lincoln translated the question. When all shook their heads in negative, Clarke was disappointed. She was sure that at least one would know. She turned her head away to clear her mind and tried to think of a way to get out. That was when her gaze fell on the reapers, who had fallen down as though in pain. She belatedly realized that she had not turned off the generator and it was still making noise.

 

Clarke switched off the device and ordered the two reapers. “Lead us outside of these tunnels.” She made sure that the reapers would listen by threating them with the tone generator. The reapers jumped up to comply with the orders. She made them move in the front.

 

The grounders didn't know what to make of the sky girl. On one hand, she had saved them but on the other, like the mountain men she could control the reapers.

 

Clarke saw the grounder's reaction to her and decided to talk to them. “Once we are out, you are free to go anywhere you want. Until then we must move together unless you wish to go alone in these tunnels. If you decide to go then this is the goodbye and may we meet again.” With her speech concluded, Clarke let the grounders to decide whether to follow her or not. She looked at Lincoln to ask him to translate for her.

 

In the end, all of them decided to stick together. Clarke knew that the grounders would never travel near the tunnels let alone move about in them alone. However, they were still looking suspiciously at her. Lincoln was walking besides her. He seemed to have questions and after debating with himself for a while he asked, “Clarke? What are you doing here?”

 

“We had been taken by the mountain men. My friends are still inside but I managed to escape.” Clarke explained. The two grounders remained silent but she could see that both Anya and Lincoln were hearing the conversation with interest. Clarke then started explaining everything that had been happening to the grounders inside the mountain.

 

At the end, both grounders that had been listening were angry. It was not apparent from their faces but their eyes showed that both were fuming at the atrocities committed by the Maunon.

 

After contemplating for a while Clarke asked Lincoln, “Have you seen any of my people?”

 

“Before I was taken, I was with Octavia.” Lincoln answered.

 

“Lincoln, I know you have helped us a lot. It must have cost you very dearly and already it has made you a traitor in the eyes of your people. I know I have no right to ask more from you. But can you please find Octavia or any of my friends that are outside and warn them about the mountain. They don’t know anything about the mountain men. For all I know they might think that your people have taken us. This might cause them to do something rash. Please tell them everything I told you.” Clarke knew this was a long shot but if anyone can find her friends quickly, it would be Lincoln.

 

He also knew about the forest more than she did. As a scout, he can easily find Octavia and maybe Bellamy as well. He had helped the Skaikru before. They would trust him to tell the truth as well. Finn was going to his village and will massacre the people there. That needed to be stopped from happening.

 

“You are not going to find them yourself.” Lincoln stated rather than asked.

 

“I have to get my friends out. Only way for that to happen is for me to talk to your leader.” Clarke replied. ‘If Finn is already on the way to TonDC then I’ll stop him from killing the villagers. And if not then I’ll have to wait for him nearby the village.” As she did not know which path, Finn and Murphy took to the village. This was the only option to prevent the massacre from happening.

 

Lincoln looked skeptical and warned, “You will get yourself killed.”

 

“I have to try. Both of our people are relying on us to get them out from the mountain. That can only happen if we work together.” Clarke said with determination.

 

He still looked unconvinced but relented and said, “Alright I’ll go to your ship and try to find Octavia.”

 

Just as Lincoln mentioned about going to the dropship, Clarke remembered what had happened to Anya when they had reached the Ark the last time. “Lincoln, the Mountain men told me that more of my people came from the sky but they were all killed. I don’t know if that is true or not. But you have to be careful if you come across them.” She cautioned him to be alert.

 

At that, he gave a confused frown and asked, “Why?”

 

“The last we had contact with my people in the space, they knew that your people had send an army to kill my friends. If they are alive then they don’t know what has happened to us. Or about the mountain men. They would be hostile to you.” If any one who approached the Ark looking like a grounder, they would be shot on the spot. Clarke did not want that to happen. She would never forgive herself if her people killed Lincoln again.

 

Clarke tried to convey the seriousness of the situation to Lincoln and he seemed to understand it because he gave a short curt nod.

 

Anya had kept silent during the interaction but Clarke heard her mutter under her breath something like, “Always helping the enemy.” When Clarke turned her gaze towards Lincoln, she knew that he had heard Anya’s comment because his shoulders had slumped. Clarke gave his shoulder a squeeze in reassurance but he did not say anything.

 

It took a couple of hours before the reapers led them out of the tunnels and into the forest area. Once they all were a safe distance away from the tunnels, Clarke made everyone stop. She examined the needle marks on the reapers necks. They were the same marks she had found on Lincoln’s neck when Bellamy had brought her to dropship.

 

Lincoln was curious at the examination and asked, “What are you doing?”

 

“The mountain men have been giving them drugs to turn them into reapers. If the drugs aren’t safely removed from their system then they would die. I could try…” Clarke trailed off. She was thinking about how to gain an alliance with Lexa again.

 

Last time Lincoln’s recovery had impressed Lexa to consider the alliance but now that is not possible. Clarke’s thoughts were cut off by a skeptical voice. “You are talking as if you could cure them. No one has cured a reaper before.” It was saying something that even Lincoln could not believe in the possibility that the reapers could be healed. Anya was standing in front of Clarke scoffing at her.

 

“I don’t know if I can but if my people are alive then they would have the equipment to do so.” Clarke replied to Lincoln. She then let the reapers go. They did not have time to cure them at this moment. Also, there weren’t enough people to get the reapers to a secure location like the dropship. Sure, she could use her tone generator to transport them but she rather not travel accompanying the reapers. Especially towards a grounder village. Not to mention, time was running out and she still needed to find and stop Finn.

 

“If you say you could cure them then why let them go?” asked Anya. She was trying to call Clarke out on her lie.

 

“Would you rather I lead them to your village?” came the succinct reply. “Besides there are lot more things we need to do before. We can attempt to cure them after we take down the mountain and free our people. If curing them is not possible then we can make sure that this doesn’t happen to any other person.”

          

With that, they parted their ways. Lincoln left to find Octavia. Others turned to go towards TonDC.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... never thought I would get this much support. I would just like to say Thanks.

Anya was leading Clarke towards TonDC. The two grounders accompanying them had left them while Clarke was freeing the reapers. The blonde ignored their abandonment since she had already said that they could leave.

 

Clarke knew one way or other she will have to see Finn again. But the thing she doesn’t is that how her reaction would be seeing him again. Ever since she had plunged the knife straight into his heart, she had been thinking about her feelings for him. She had fallen for his charms and his support for her. When Raven came to Earth and Clarke found about his relationship with the other girl, she had been heartbroken just like any normal person would be. It had made her feel that he had sex with her only because he thought that there was no chance of his girlfriend coming on the ground. That image was shattered the very next day.

 

Sure, he might have said that he loved her but how much was it because of circumstances? One thing she knows that she has moved on from him. Even if she didn’t have any feelings for Lexa, Clarke knew that she would not be with him.

 

Both Clarke and Anya had been walking for a couple of hours and sunlight was waning. Soon the night would come and it would be difficult to travel in forest. Clarke was paying attention to her surroundings for any signs of Finn and Murphy. They were walking in thick coverage of the forest. By a nonverbal agreement, they both decided against walking on the clear path, which Clarke recognized that directly led to TonDC.

 

She was glad that she was on alert and the three months she had spent in the forest. Those months had sharpened her instincts and it pleased her that they were passed on along with her memories to the past. Because, even though she was lost in her thoughts, she still managed spot someone at a distance moving towards the village.

 

Since there was rustling of leaves and noise of footsteps, Clarke discounted the possibility of Trikru tracking them. When Clarke glanced at Anya, she noticed that the grounder had tensed. It seemed that the other woman had also detected somebody’s presence.

 

“I thought you said that by removing that thing from my arm, Maunon would not be able to follow us. If this is your plan to lead them to my village then I will kill you.” Anya hissed angrily at Clarke.

 

The blonde simply motioned Anya to lay low and hide behind a tree. They waited for the being to come near. Clarke let out a gasp. She could recognize that brown hair anywhere. It has haunted her for quite a while and probably at times, it still does. She could not look away from him. No matter how much she was expecting to see him, the reality of seeing him was something else. She snapped out of her shock of seeing Finn alive when he and Murphy moving away from them.

 

“Isn’t that your lover?” It appeared that Anya remembered Finn from the time Anya had kidnapped them.

 

Ignoring the question, Clarke turned towards the other woman and said, “They are not mountain men but stay here. I’ll go and talk to them.”

 

Anya looked annoyed at the command and was ready to protest that she did not take orders from the skaigada. However, before she could open her mouth to express her displeasure, Clarke cut her by saying, “They have guns. If they see you with me, they will think that you have captured me again and shoot you.” Clarke placed the gun in the back of her pants. She then left their hiding place and ran after the retreating boys.

 

"Finn stop!" Clarke shouted.

 

Finn and Murphy were both startled and swiftly turned back at the shout. Both were looking at Clarke in surprise. They had not been expecting to hear from her at all. Clarke could tell that both of their jaws were hanging open slightly. Murphy snapped out of it first and murmured in confusion, “Clarke? How did you escape from the grounders?”

 

Finn stood still as if he couldn’t believe at first but then ran towards Clarke and engulfed her in a tight hug. He was muttering, "I found you." Again and again.

 

Clarke did not return the hug but stayed still. After a minute, she pushed him back and said, "I am alright. But our people are being kept at Mount Weather." Finn was looking at her in such a desperation that seemed that if he moved his gaze away from her then she would disappear or that she wasn’t really there. He had given her a similar expression when she had found him after he had killed those grounders. She doesn’t know which expression unsettled her more. Clarke was glad for the distraction when Murphy decided to speak.

 

"Grounders took you there?" Murphy questioned disbelievingly.

 

"No. Mountain men did. They even told us that the Ark had fallen but everyone died.” Clarke said. She looked at them for to confirm or to deny that.

 

“They lied to you then. There have been survivors.” Murphy seemed to be doing all the talking. However, Finn chose that moment to talk. “Ya Clarke, your mom send us to find you.”

 

Clarke knew that her mother was the chancellor but she needed to know whether Kane had already left for his peacekeeping talks or not. “Jaha allowed that?” Clarke needed to keep a tally of what she was supposed to know at this point of time and what she was not. She almost said Kane earlier before she remembered that she should not have known that Kane was in charge because Jaha stayed in space.

 

“They said that he stayed in space. Kane is in charge but I can’t imagine he would be happy when he finds out though.” Murphy snorted. So this either means that Kane has not yet departed from the camp or that he has but after Bellamy and others left to search for the 100. The most likely scenario would be latter than former.

 

“Listen, I need you both to go back to the camp and tell them to beware of the people in Mount Weather. They have locked hundreds of grounders in cages and our friends are also stuck inside there." Clarke then mentioned in detail the horrors committed in the mountain.

 

"You are talking as if you will not come with us." Observed Murphy.

 

"Thats exactly what I am doing." Replied Clarke.

 

At that, Finn grabbed hold of Clarke by shoulders and looked at her in alarm. "What! Why would you do that?"

 

"I am going to talk with the grounders to form an alliance with us. To get our friends out of the mountain, we will need their help."

 

“You are insane.” Murphy snarked.

 

Both the boys could see that there was no way of swaying her from the decision. "I'll not let you go alone. I will come with you." Finn said determinately.

 

Clarke did not want them, especially Finn, to come with her to TonDC. There is no way she was going to risk that happening. "No! You and Murphy need to go back to our people and warn them about the mountain men." But Finn still looked unconvinced.

 

So Clarke tried a different approach, “Do you want to fight a war against two fronts? This is our only way to save our friends and I have to do this alone.” She tried to persuade them. Their previous attempts at peacemaking on the Unity day were disastrous. Having another trigger-happy reaction would be catastrophic.

 

"We are wasting time." Anya emerged from the bushes and stood a few steps behind Clarke but facing Finn. This caused both Finn and Murphy to jump and hastily draw guns at her. Clarke let a sigh out in exasperation. She should have known that there was no way Anya would have stayed put. Clarke quickly pushed the gun in Finn's hand downwards and snatched the one from Murphy's hands while they had been distracted.

 

Murphy exclaimed, “Hey!” when the gun was snatched off from him.

 

"Relax. She is with me." Clarke was holding Murphy’s gun in one hand and discreetly pulled the hidden dart with the other. She stuck the tranquilizer dart into Finn’s neck when he was eying Anya wearily. Clarke said remorsefully, “I’m sorry Finn but I can’t let you come with me.”

 

The effect of the sedative was fast and Finn lost his consciousness in under a minute. Clarke took the gun from Finn before anyone could realize what was happening. She was thankful that not one bullet had been fired while she had pulled this stunt.

 

"What the hell Clarke!" Murphy exclaimed.

 

Clarke looked him and explained, "He wouldn't have gone with you easily. Now take him back to the Ark, Murphy. Make sure that nobody else goes looking for me. I’ll come back once I get what I want."

 

Murphy looked as if he wanted to protest, but one look at Clarke, he kept his mouth shut. He hauled Finn by his shoulders and pulled him near the trees to build a makeshift stretcher. Anya had been silent at the whole exchange.

 

Clarke turned to leave but Murphy called her back, "Hey wait! At least leave me a gun."

 

Clarke steadily gazed at him and replied, "Your hands are going to be full taking him back. You don't need it. It may take a while for me to get back. So tell my mother to gather as much Intel as she could on the Mount Weather." With that, she left. Murphy's muttered curses could be heard as he got back to make stretcher for Finn.

 

Anya looked warily at the guns in Clarke's hands but didn't say anything.

 

* * *

 

After walking for a while in the direction of Tondc, "You will not be able to get an audience if you insist to bring them with us. In fact, it would get us both killed." Anya stated looking pointedly at the guns, which Clarke was carrying.

 

Clarke just smirked, "I know that." She was feeling pleased. Happiness seemed to bubble inside her. She had managed to stop Finn from coming with her. She knew he would be angry once he wakes up but without a gun, he would not be able to do that much damage.

 

Anya looked at her as if she had grown two heads and muttered something that sounded like branwada. Clarke ignored her mutterings. She knew that leaving the guns with those two would be more foolish.

 

It was dark before they saw the Lincoln statue few meters away. They stopped when they reached it. Both were looking around for any threats.

 

“I am going inside and will see if I can get you audience. You stay here.” Anya said stoically in a detached way. Clarke raised an eyebrow at that. That seemed helpful. Too helpful.

 

“Alright. But if you are not back in ten minutes then I’ll come inside.” Replied Clarke. Anya just smirked in return and left her standing there before going inside the village.

 

Clarke waited for Anya to leave her sight. She then discreetly hid one of the guns, tone generator, and the plastic bag containing the map, sleeping dart gun, and radio near the Lincoln statue while keeping a watch for Anya or any other grounder to turn up.

  

* * *

 

Lincoln had been walking for a while since he parted ways with Clarke and Anya. Nevertheless, he reached the ship the 100 had landed in from the sky just as the sun was setting. The place was deserted. He searched the area for any clue where Octavia or any other skaikru would be. But there was nothing.

 

He was leaving the area when he saw an unusual contraption flying in the sky. Lincoln assumed that contraption belonged to skaikru because he had never seen them used by his clan or Maunon for that matter. He decided to move in the direction it came from. He was cautious though as he remembered the warning Clarke had given.

 

After a while, someone brought the device down. Still he moved roughly in that direction. Lincoln found that he was right in his assumption when he reached the place where the device came from. The device belonged to skaikru.

 

Lincoln was standing at a distance away from the camp. It was already dark out. He decided to scout the area around the camp before approaching anybody. As he moved a bit near, a shot rang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone say anything, I would like to tell you that I like Lincoln... That and there will be no unnecessary death.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for delay in posting of this chapter. I was sick for past few days and not in a position to write. That and life somewhat got in the way.

The night had set in. It was dark particularly under the forest cover where Anya had left Clarke. If Clarke had her watch, then she would know the exact time but it would be very late. She was sure just in couple of hours sun would rise. The blonde thought she had waited for enough while and then moved towards the entrance of the village. She was cautious at the possibility of walking into a trap. Just before she reached the entrance, she caught the sight of Anya moving towards her.

 

When Anya saw Clarke, she rolled her eyes and said, “Skaigada is too impatient.” But Clarke pointedly glared at her. The grounder let out a sigh and stated, “Indra is not inside.”

 

Clarke cocked her head in contemplation and asked, “Who will deal in her stead? Who is left in charge then?” When the grounder remained silent, Clarke let out a frustrated sigh out and cocked an eyebrow in Anya's direction.

 

"No one will deal in her stead but Naikou will know where Indra is." Anya gritted through her teeth. “I came to get you.” They made their way inside going towards what Clarke assumed would be the healer's tent.

 

"I will not let you harm my people." Anya hissed just before Clarke entered the village. The grounder was weary of the guns Clarke was carrying. The blonde cannot say that the distress was not unfounded. Truth to be told she herself was weary of it. One such gun was responsible for taking the life of her love.

 

"I have no intention to do that. I am no fool Anya. I know your people would not help if I kill more of your people but I will not go in unarmed as well." Clarke simply stated as if they were talking about weather and continued inside.

 

The village was empty. Nobody was outside their houses which was understandable given the time. But Clarke could see that there were no guards as well. She can see that how Finn and Murphy were able to round up the villagers so easily. She quickly shook her head out of those thoughts. It wouldn’t do her any good thinking about that at this point of time. Instead, she turned her thoughts towards convincing Indra to grant an audience with the Commander. But before she could think much, Anya stopped in front of a hut and knocked on the door persistently.

 

It took few moments but the door opened and a face peeked out of it. Since Anya was standing near the door, the person let a gasp out at the sight of the woman. The door was hurriedly opened and the person was revealed as Nyko. He had a shocked look on his face and asked something in trigedasleng. Clarke was sure that he said, _‘How are you alive?’_ But schooled her features to confusion before anyone noticed that she knew their language. At this point of time, she should not know trigedasleng.

 

Anya spared a glance at Clarke before turning back to Nyko and said speedily in the grounder language, _“I need to talk to Indra. Where is she?”_ If Clarke had not been paying attention then she would have missed it.

 

Nyko beckoned them to come inside the hut. He suspiciously regarded Clarke when she followed Anya. Nyko closed the door behind them. Anya gestured him to the corner of the hut and gave a glare to Clarke to stay away from them while they talked. In reply, the blonde raised her eyebrow but remained where she was.

 

Both Anya and Nyko were frantically whispering to each other in their language. Clarke could see from her position that Anya looked annoyed at the information received. After few moments of talking, Nyko left the room and Anya moved towards Clarke.

 

“Helping you is making me a traitor to my people.” Anya angrily muttered to the blonde.

 

“Your people think you are dead. That you died by my hands along with 300 of your warriors at the drop ship. You are not just helping me. Your people are also stuck inside. I don't have time for this. Just let me talk to your leader.” Clarke stated as a matter of fact. It was true the time was ticking. There was no saying when Finn would wake up and try to come after her. Even though without guns he would not try to massacre Tondc but after reaching Camp Jaha, there are no guarantees.

 

Anya replied in a haughty tone, “You are in luck then Sky girl. Indra has gone to meet Heda and I can take you there.” Clarke internally rolled her eyes. It seems that Anya is deliberately trying to rile her up. Before she could open her mouth to reply, Nyko came back and handed a pile of clothes to Anya.

 

Clarke raised her eyebrows as the other woman left to go and presumably change. She supposed that to the grounder, wearing those clothes from the mountain was very uncomfortable. Clarke glanced down at her own attire and suddenly felt the urge to change as well but knew the request for clothes would not go well. She spent the time waiting for Anya to glance around the room she was standing. It contained few beds for the patients but none were occupied. There were vials of medicines and herbs on the table in the corner of the room. There were piles of cloths and bandages in the other corner. It was a typical basic setup for a healer’s hut.

 

The door opened again revealing Anya who seemed more relaxed than she was before going inside. Clarke supposed that getting rid of those clothes would ease the other woman. That and getting her hands on a dagger. She could not see any knives visible on the grounder but Clarke was sure that there were several hidden on her person.

 

Without sparing a glance at Nyko or Clarke, Anya proceeded to leave the hut. It took a heartbeat before Clarke realized what happened and ran after the other woman. She reached the grounder at the entrance of the village. ‘She can be fast when she wants to be.’ Clarke thought. It amazed the blonde that Anya was this swift even after the time she spent at the mountain.

 

Anya was waiting impatiently for the skaigada to catch up to her. When Clarke reached her she said, “It is almost dawn. It would be a while before we reach the village Heda is currently.” They both started walking away from Tondc without any further debate.

 

* * *

 

Lincoln was glad that the bullet missed him by a wide berth. He decided that it was best for him to stay clear of the camp, the Skaikru had made. The Skaikru were shooting at all perceived threats. Clarke’s warning rang in his ears as he was moving a safe distance away from the camp.

 

He knew he needed to find Octavia not only just to give Clarke’s message but also to find whether she was all right or not. He hoped that nothing had happened to her after he was taken by the reapers and she managed to get away safely from there. It was a slim chance that he would be able to find her here without being shot by the Skaikru but he had to.

 

He moved to hide near the place where he could see the entrance to the camp. Lincoln knew that Octavia would not stay inside the camp for a long time. She would come out. He could talk with her when she did so. Until then he would keep hiding. Clarke had been right that her people would not hesitate to capture him because he was a Trikru.

 

Lincoln spent the entire night awake and on alert. All through the night only once more a gunshot had resounded in the forest but then it was silent. He knew that the guards were still patrolling the camp but now they had stopped firing at every threat. He still could not decide whether that was a good sign or not.

 

The sun was high in the sky when Lincoln saw few figures approaching the camp made by the Skaikru. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw one of them was Octavia. He could not see properly who the other three figures were from the position he was hiding though.

 

Last night Lincoln had placed white flowers so that he could get Octavia’s attention and meet him. As expected when the group neared the camp Octavia noticed the trail of flowers. As soon as she saw them, she was looking around frantically. Lincoln tried to catch Octavia’s eye. He could see that she was shocked when he finally got her attention. He motioned for her to remain quiet and jerked his head in the direction he wanted to meet her. She looked at him for a moment as if she saw a ghost but then turned towards her companions.

 

“Bell, you take them inside. I’ll come back in a while.” Octavia told her brother with barely contained excitement.

 

Bellamy was startled by the sudden change in his sister’s mood. He stopped her before she could go anywhere and exclaimed, “What! Where are you going?”

 

Octavia impatiently explained what she had seen. She had lost hope that she would see Lincoln again and to catch a glimpse of him made her want to run to him as soon as possible. “I saw Lincoln out there and he wanted to talk to me. I am going to meet him. Bells.”

 

Bellamy looked skeptically at her but then said determinately, “Wait, I’ll come with you.”

 

“I think he wanted me to come alone. Go. I can take care of myself and Lincoln would never hurt me.” She did not want her brother hovering over her. “And don’t they need help to get back to camp?” She pointed at injured Mel and Monroe.

 

“Why would he not come out here and talk?” Bellamy tried to argue. He was against having his sister go alone somewhere.

 

“I don’t know. But I’ll find out and come to the camp as fast as I can. Bells go.” Octavia said with conviction and left without hearing any other word of protest from her brother.

 

Bellamy looked at his sister’s retreating back with uncertainty but then helped the other two girls to reach the Camp Jaha. They needed medical attention and his sister would come back soon. He was coming to understand that he would not be able to stop her from doing what she wanted to do. He did not like it but needed to accept the fact.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Octavia reached Lincoln, she launched herself in his arms and hugged him tight. When Lincoln tried to pull back, she did not give any second to respond. She held his face in her hands and gave him a deep kiss on his lips. It was a while before she let him come out for air. And when she did both of them were out of breathe. Through this all, Octavia did not loosen her hold on him. She held him tightly as though he would disappear the moment she lets go.

 

“I thought I lost you. When we rescued Nyko and you were not with them, I thought I would never see you again.” Octavia was looking at Lincoln in wonder.

 

“You saved Naikou?” It was now Lincoln’s turn to stare at Octavia in amazement.

 

She gave a small smile in return and said, “Yes, I did with Indra. But how did you escape?”

 

“Your friend Clarke helped me.” At Octavia’s confused gaze, Lincoln explained everything that had happened from the moment he had been captured by the reapers until the moment he managed to reach near the Skaikru camp. He at the end relayed the message Clarke had given him to pass on and the dangers of the mountain.

 

It took a couple of hours but they managed to exchange what had happened to each other since they were separated in detail. They were both holding each other and basking in other’s presence when Octavia remembered that Finn and Murphy were going to Tondc.

 

“We need to tell them everything before they do something.” Octavia exclaimed.

 

“No. You should go to your camp and tell them everything I told you or else they would send more people to my village. If that happens then Heda will never form an alliance and will wipe off your people. I will go and tell them.” Lincoln knew that his people were already on a war with the Skaikru. They would be lucky if Heda agrees to let the Skaikru leave the Trikru lands and not kill them all. Something in Lincoln’s voice made Octavia to agree to go back to Camp Jaha.

 

It was late afternoon when they parted ways from each other. Lincoln took the shortest route to Tondc so that he could reach the two Skai skats fast.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was difficult to get out. Partly because I am still sick and partly because life happened. I know a lot of you are not happy that there is no Clexa yet but please be patient with me. It will happen soon.

“How could you let her go with that grounder? That grounder who had kidnapped us and wanted to kill us.” Finn all but yelled. Murphy had managed to drag Finn’s unconscious form to a nearby clearing. There was no way Murphy was going to drag him all the way to camp. He decided to stay the night there and wait for the other boy to wake up so that they could go back. It was when the day broke that Finn woke up. And ever since waking up, he was on a warpath.

 

“Hey! She had our guns. What would you have me do? Refuse her and be killed?” Murphy was regretting not leaving Finn on his own and going back to the camp alone. The only reason he did not go because he knew the people of Ark would lock him up for sure. Probably do even worse since he would have to leave the other boy unconscious in the grounder territory and knowing his luck they would find out what he did sooner or later.

 

“Clarke wouldn't have killed you.” Finn said with conviction.

 

Murphy gave a snort and retorted sarcastically, “Just a day ago, everyone thought you were a peacemaker and wouldn't kill anyone in cold blood. Thank you very much but I'd like to not have any bullet holes in my body.” Finn flinched at the words as he remembered pulling the trigger on the grounder.

 

He shook himself out of stupor and said, “We need to stop Clarke.”

 

“How do you plan to do that? Dude, in case you forgot, we are currently unarmed. Also by this time, I think princess would have already reached the place. I think we should just go back.” Murphy just wanted to get back to the camp. There was no way in hell he was going to end up in grounder’s hands again for them to torture him.

 

Finn was indecisive. He wanted to run after Clarke. But with no weapons, there was nothing he could do. What he could not understand was why Clarke was willingly going to grounder village with Anya. ‘Maybe she was threatened. That must be it. There is no way Clarke would go with that grounder willingly.’ Finn's eyes widened with realization. ‘Anya must have others as hostages and is making Clarke follow her.’ But there was nothing he could do. As much as he hated it, Murphy was right. Without any weapons, it was useless going after Clarke. It would be better to go back to the camp and get help. 

 

* * *

 

The light was starting to dwindle by the time Octavia reached the entrance of Camp Jaha. It caused a minor commotion when she entered the camp but she quickly found her brother and Raven talking. However, before she could reach them, Abby intercepted her.

 

“Where had you been?” Before Octavia could reply, Bellamy and Raven approached them.

 

“O? Are you alright? What did he want?” Bellamy rapidly asked questions to his sister. Octavia turned her attention from the Chancellor to her brother and said, “I have news. Apparently our friends are not with the grounders but inside the mountain.”

 

Abby decided to cut in, “How can you be so sure and where did you get this information anyway?”

 

Octavia scowled at the woman but answered anyway, “Lincoln had been captured by the reapers earlier. Clarke saved him.” Octavia was going to say more but was again cut off by Abby. “What! Where is Clarke? Is she hurt?” The girl looked irritated on being interrupted and was ready to blow off at the other woman. Before that could happen, Bellamy placed an arm on his sister’s shoulder and asked, “Whats going on O?”

 

Octavia took a deep breath to calm herself before launching into an explanation regarding the information she gained from Lincoln. She had only managed to finish telling her audience about how Clarke freed Lincoln from the reapers before she was interrupted again but by a different source.

 

Finn and Murphy had finally managed to reach Camp Jaha. Just as they entered, Finn rushed towards Bellamy with Murphy following at a subdued pace. Without even stopping to take a breath, Finn spat out the words hastily, “We need to stop Clarke.”

 

Raven decided to interject, “What are you talking about Finn?” Finn looked annoyed that they were not moving fast to comply with his request.

 

“Princess decided to go to a grounder village. Apparently she thinks she could gain an alliance with them.” Snarked Murphy. Octavia nodded at the statement in agreement. Abby was shocked but the girl explained that was what Lincoln had mentioned Clarke was going to do. Abby was getting angrier as she found what her child was doing. To make matters worse, the boys had found Clarke but did not bring her back with them. She looked ready to launch at the two boys but controlled herself. However, she did let out a snarl at them, “You let her go just like that?”

 

Murphy was annoyed that everyone seemed to blame him for everything and said, “Hey its not our fault that she did not come with us.” He explained the circumstances that resulted in them coming back to the camp.

 

“It does not matter; we need to gather forces to get Clarke back from that grounder.” Abby was worried about her daughter. She needed to have her back in the camp where her daughter would be safe. She turned around to collect few guards.

 

Raven followed Abby and stopped her from going too far. She told the older woman, “I don’t think we should do that. Clarke said she did not want anyone to come after her.”

 

Abby turned to face Raven and bit out, “Raven, Clarke is just a kid. She cannot possibly know what it means to form an alliance with those people.”

 

Raven looked into her eyes and said, “She stopped being a kid the moment you sent her to the ground to die.” There was a flash of anger at the accusation in Abby’s eyes. She raised her hand as if to slap Raven but then stopped herself as the delinquents approached them.

 

“Sending guards to get Clarke back might create problems for her.” Said Raven.

 

Abby looked at her in disbelief. But it was Finn who voiced the question. “Why is that Raven? In fact, what I think is that grounder has our friends as hostages and is making Clarke go with her. There is no way Clarke would go with her.” Murphy gave a snort at the last statement and muttered something like, “Yeah right. It sure did look like that.”

 

“I told you what Lincoln said. What are you implying?” Octavia said fervently. She looked at Finn, daring him to say that Lincoln lied.

 

It was Abby who said, “I don’t know how reliable that information is. If Clarke escaped the mountain as he said then she would have come here instead of going to the grounders.”

 

Octavia was angry at the accusation and exclaimed, “Lincoln wouldn’t lie!”

 

Bellamy sided with his sister and said, “O is right. He has saved our lives before from his own people. He wouldn’t lie about this.” He ran his fingers through his hair and continued in a resigned tone, “If you are correct Finn then if we send people after Clarke, wouldn’t it make them kill our friends? Those grounders had not hesitated earlier to try and kill any of us and now if they have our friends what do you think will happen?”

 

“Then you would have us do nothing? Let them suffer?” Finn said hotly.

 

“I am not saying that!” Bellamy exclaimed.

 

Abby interjected by asking, “Do you know where Clarke was going?” She looked at Finn and Murphy to start talking.

 

“She was heading in the direction that grounder had shown us in the map but I can’t be sure. There could be many grounder villages in that way.” Murphy said.

 

Abby nodded at him and told everyone, “We need to find both Clarke and Kane. I will gather some search parties. With any luck, they would find them. But I want you lot to remain here. I don’t want any more missing people to search for. We don’t have enough manpower right now.”

 

Raven wanted to protest with the decision but the look Abby was sending her made her pause. She disagreed with the Chancellor’s decision, knowing that Clarke must have made the decision to go to grounders for a reason. And after explicitly being told by Clarke not to follow, sending guards after her would not be a good idea. Raven though could not find a way to dissuade Abby. So, Bellamy, Octavia, and Raven reluctantly gave their consenting nods. Murphy remained disinterested but gave a nod as well.

 

Finn on the other hand was fuming. He wanted to go with the guards to rescue Clarke. But he held his tongue knowing that if he appeared to be going against or even disputing the orders from the Chancellor, he would be locked up. Then there would be no way he would be able to go. He would need to find another way to arm himself and get out of the camp.

 

After Abby left giving them all a stern look, Raven proceeded to lead everyone to the dining area to have some dinner and to plan what to do next. They would not sit idly while Clarke was out there doing god knows what.

 

* * *

 

Clarke was exhausted. She and Anya had been walking nonstop since leaving Tondc. They had not stopped even once. Clarke knew that she had to build up her endurance again. She never realized that she was this weak before.

 

The sun was high in the sky when Anya showed the signs of stopping. Clarke knew that Anya was somehow making a signal of their arrival to the scouts surrounding the village. They took few more steps ahead before Clarke decided to take action.

 

“Maybe this will seem less like Natrona to your people.” Clarke whispered in Anya's ear before poking her with the gun. Clarke then loudly ordered her to call the scouts that were nearby. Anya was surprised at the Skaigada’s words but did as she was ordered to.

 

The blonde knew that if Anya was seen as helping the Skaikru then these people would consider the grounder a traitor just like Lincoln. She would not be able to help Clarke to build an alliance. Clarke hoped that with her actions, this would not happen and she would be taken to Lexa directly.

 

One by one all the scouts and the warriors were standing in front of them. “You will not get an audience with Heda if you are armed. Give up your weapons and they will take you to our Heda.” Anya said with a stoic expression. Clarke had to give kudos to the grounder. Even at the gunpoint, she was making demands. Clarke knew from the start that the Trikru would never allow her near Lexa with her guns. But going inside without any weapon was making her queasy. After a few moments of indecision, Clarke dropped her gun.

 

The warriors took all her weapons. Clarke was relieved that she had thought of hiding some of her things because these people would have destroyed them, even without knowing what it was. They would destroy it just out of spite because the things looked like they belonged to mountain men.

 

Just as the warriors started moving Clarke in the direction that she hoped lead towards Lexa, Anya caught her eye. The other woman gave Clarke a look, which the blonde could not decipher. Clarke did not have much time to dwell on it as a warrior poked a sword in her back to get her going ahead. Though, she did saw Anya going in other direction with two warriors and talking with them rapidly in Trigedasleng.

 

The warriors guarding Clarke were taking her towards what appeared to be an old world’s train station. They were walking in it for a few minutes before one of the grounder split off from them and went to talk to the group of people that were already standing in the corner. Clarke could not see whom he was talking to as they were standing at a distance and the other warriors surrounding her made her move faster away from that area.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dedicate this chapter to whom I consider my grandmother who passed away last weekend.

The guards led Clarke to a prison cell and pushed her inside. They locked the door and left without saying a word. When she turned around to take a closer look in the cell, Clarke found that the cell was already occupied. Standing in front of her was Marcus Kane and sitting on the ground leaning against sidewall of the cell was Thelonious Jaha, father of her best friend.

 

“Fancy meeting you both here.” Clarke had almost forgotten that these two had been imprisoned in the previous timeline.

 

Kane could not believe it. He said, “Clarke! Thank god, you are here. Where are the other kids?” When he had set out on this mission, he had wished to find the children that had been captured by the grounders. He was glad that he had at least found one of them. Perhaps he could convince the leader of the grounders to let the kids go.

 

Just before she could reply to his query, the prison door was opened again with a bang and this time group of grounders entered the cell. They were all carrying sharp weapons. Clarke was focused on the people entered but she could not move her attention pass the person in the center. She was confused and a bit angry because in front of them standing was Gustus wearing the commander's pauldron. That pauldron belonged to Lexa. She wondered why he had it.

 

The guards started beating up Jaha and pulled him up to stand in front of Gustus. Clarke was not paying attention to the commotion taking place around her because her attention was on the girl that was standing behind Gustus. When the guards moved, they unblocked the view of the person that was most important in this world to Clarke. There standing in servant's disguise with a limp was no doubt Lexa. Even without her commander's gear, she looked simply breathtaking. Try as she might, Clarke could not take her eyes off Lexa. Last time she had seen the brunette was in City of Light, just before Lexa left to fend off Jaha's army.

 

Even though Lexa had her head down, Clarke knew that she was taking everything in for future reference and was on high alert. It took every bit of control Clarke had so that she did not run towards the other girl, hug her tight, and never let her go for an eternity.

 

Clarke knew she needed to pay attention to what Gustus was instructing but she got the gist of what he was telling. Out of the three of them, only one was allowed to remain alive. They expected the Skaikru to kill each other with the knife and the last one would get to negotiate with the Commander. It seemed that Lexa had come here in disguise to get information about the Skaikru. She was posing as a servant girl who will keep an eye on the enemy. A few moments later after finishing his speech, Gustus and the guards left the cell, leaving behind Lexa.

 

There was silence for a couple of minutes before Clarke broke it. “They are currently being held at Mount Weather.” She answered the question posed by Kane earlier without taking her eyes off from Lexa. Everyone looked confused for few moments before it clicked what Clarke said. Both Jaha and Lexa were looking at the blonde intensely as if trying to solve a puzzle.

 

“Mount Weather? But we thought...” Kane started asking but was immediately cut off by Clarke. “There are people inhabiting the mountain and they took us. Not these grounders. I just managed to escape from there.” Kane was gapping at Clarke.

 

At the last statement, Lexa intervened and snarled, “You lie! Nobody has been able to escape the mountain.” Just after saying that, she controlled herself and tried to appear subservient. It was quite a feat. There was a flinch and everything. ‘Lexa can be very melodramatic.’ Clarke mentally gave a snort, thinking back to all the times she had seen the girl being dramatic.

 

Clarke looked into Lexa's eyes so that the other girl could see that she was being truthful and replied with finality, “Well I did.”

 

That was the only thing Clarke said. She sat with her back against the wall but keeping the other three in her line of vision. Though she had yet to take her eyes off Lexa. Her mind was going over possibilities of what is to be done next.

 

Even though, this was Lexa sitting in the corner of this cell but this was not her Lexa. Clarke did not know if this Lexa would ever look back at her with love. This Lexa believes that love is weakness. She is still hurting because of what had happened to Costia at the hands of Ice Nation. Clarke did not know what she had done the first time to get Lexa fall for her and she doesn't know what to do now. These thoughts filled Clarke with sadness.

 

‘Atleast she will live. I'll make sure that this Lexa lives.’ thought Clarke stubbornly. It broke her heart that she could not show the other girl how much she cares for her. How much she loves her. How much she needs her.

 

* * *

  

“I am Thelonious; he is Marcus and over there is Clarke. What is your name?” Jaha introduced the three Skaikru present to the lone grounder in the cell. Kane grunted at his name and Clarke gave a small wave of her hand when Lexa looked at her. The brunette gave a nod of acknowledgement to the three prisoners but she looked unsure of giving her name away. After a split second of hesitation, she said ‘Lexa’ firmly.

 

“Your commander said something about us invading your lands and burning down your villages and your warriors.” Jaha waited until he had some kind of an indication that the girl was listening before continuing, “We didn't mean to invade your lands. We didn't know the Earth was survivable and there were people living here.” He was trying to explain his people's actions.

 

Clarke snorted at that and said in a low voice filled with sarcasm, “So what did he do to find out? He sent 100 children to find out whether if it is and that to without any supplies. Also knowing that there was minimal chance of them surviving.” She had time to think about everything that had happened to them during the past few months living on the ground. And to say Clarke was pissed off was an understatement.

 

Both Kane and Jaha recoiled back as though they were slapped. Lexa looked on interested, taking in the conversation silently. Clarke was still angry at the decisions taken by her people. If only they had let her father tell the people about the oxygen problem. They could have sent volunteers to the ground. They could have been better prepared. It might even have prevented this war with the grounders.

 

“We didn't know about the burning of the villages.” Jaha continued on trying to ignore what Clarke had stated.

 

Lexa was ready to protest what Jaha alleged but before anyone could say anything, Clarke cut them off. “The village burning was our fault but it was an accident. That was not supposed to happen. We had sent flares in the sky so that they could see that the Earth was survivable.” Clarke nodded pointedly in the direction of Jaha and Kane. “It was done to stop them from killing over three hundred innocent people. Not that it did any good as they were killed anyway.” The sentence came out bitterly. Kane looked remorseful at the part he played in the culling.

 

Lexa looked thoughtful for a moment taking in the explanation given by the blonde. Then she narrowed her eyes and interjected. “What about the warriors?” It seemed that the brunette wanted to know what excuse they would come up for that.

 

“What of them?” Clarke tried to deflect the statement. Inwardly the blonde was happy to have a conversation with the other girl. Before turning back time, Clarke had thought that she would never get a chance to talk with Lexa ever again.

 

Lexa stared intensely at the blonde and firmly stated. “You're the one who burned three hundred of the warriors alive.” Clarke felt a shiver course down her spine at those words. It was not due to fear. Not at all. In fact, she felt excitement course through her just by looking into those forest green eyes. Hearing those exact words said by the brunette in the previous timeline, just seemed to increase the feeling.

 

Clarke took a deep breath to calm herself to reply, “You're the one who sent them there to kill us.” Nothing else was said after that. Silence descended on all of the occupants of the cell.

  

* * *

  

It was not long before Kane and Jaha were both discussing the right course of action about who will live. Clarke did not say a word regarding the matter. She was quite content ignoring them while gazing at Lexa. Kane surprised them all by righteously sacrificing himself by cutting his wrists with the knife. Clarke rushed to him and tried to slow the blood flow by putting pressure on the cut.

 

“We need bandages to stop the bleeding.” Clarke stated the obvious. Jaha was shocked at the scene but then pleaded with Lexa to give them some bandages.

 

Even though Lexa seemed to hesitate for an instant but still handed over a piece of cloth to Clarke, who wrapped it around the wound quickly but securely.

 

Clarke saw movement from the corner of her eye just as she finished wrapping up the wound. Jaha had used the distraction caused by Kane to grab hold of the knife. She inwardly cursed whoever had this brilliant idea of having them play passing the knife.

 

Jaha leaned towards Lexa as if to catch hold of her, Clarke grabbed the wrist, which was holding the knife. She squeezed the wrist so hard had the knife fell on the ground with clank.

 

“Don't even think about it.” Clarke gave Jaha a glare and then pulled the hand that she was holding. Just as Jaha stumbled due to being unbalanced, she used her other hand to give a power punch to his face.

 

Jaha let out a pained moan while clutching his face. Clarke felt deep satisfaction when she heard a cracking sound as her fist connected his nose. Jaha’s hands left his face to reveal a broken nose. Clarke felt good to hit someone who had ordered the execution of her father and was going to hurt another person she loved. Lexa's eyes widened in shock for a second at the display but she schooled her features to an impassive expression.

 

Clarke bent over to get the fallen knife and without glancing at Jaha said, “I don't care if you try to commit suicide or try to kill me and Kane. But! Don't you dare try to hurt her.” The threat and the authority in her voice was as clear as it could be when Clarke slowly gritted out the last statement.

 

Clarke had enough of everyone trying to kill Lexa. She regretted that she had not been able to save her from the bullet that was meant for her. She would be damned if she let the other girl die again. Logically Clarke knew that Lexa had everything under control and the brunette could protect herself easily. There was no way that Jaha would be able to hurt a hair on the Commander’s head. But currently the blonde was anything but logical. Her mind kept on going back to black blood dripping from the wound and Lexa’s lifeless eyes. Clarke shook her head to clear her thoughts.

 

After retrieving the knife, Clarke presented it to Lexa with the handle facing upwards. “I know you don't believe me but I, along with Anya, did escape the mountain.” Lexa raised her eyebrows at the bold statement.

 

“I heard the guards saying you had her as a hostage.” Lexa countered.

 

Clarke let out a sigh at that and backed off to create distance between them. She explained her reasoning, “I know what your people do to whom they consider as a traitor. If she was seen as helping us, then she would have been killed very painfully or at the very least thrown out of her village. I could not have let that happen to her.”

 

‘She ment a lot to you. I couldn't bear to see you be forced to banish her or worse to kill her just like you had to with Gustus.’ Clarke thought. Lexa saw the sadness and the faraway look Clarke had. The brunette wondered what that was about.

 

“I need to speak to Commander urgently.” Clarke said quietly after few minutes of silence.

 

“What makes you think that the Commander will believe you?” probed Lexa. She was being suspicious at the answer given by Clarke. No one had been able to escape the Maunon. To do so was quite a feat and highly suspicious. Skaikru being so similar to the Maunon with their technology, there is no way that they could not be allies with them. These talks of peace could be a ruse to get their guards down.

 

Clarke knew that this was her chance to make Lexa understand the need for alliance. She looked into Lexa’s eyes to show the seriousness of her words and said, “We both want to get our people out of the mountain. The only way to do that is to work together. I have the information that could be used to take down the mountain.”

 

Gustus and other guards had entered the cell as soon as Jaha tried to take Lexa as a hostage. They were silently standing behind Lexa as honor guard and waiting for her orders.

 

“[Ai don sen in chit bilaik ai gaf sen in.](http://trigedasleng.info/translations/0206-3402/)” Clarke was almost sure that Lexa said, ‘I've heard what I need to hear.’ Gustus replied, “Sha Heda.” And then he placed the commander’s pauldron back where it belong, that is on Lexa’s shoulder.

 

Kane and Jaha were both shocked at the turn of events but Clarke stood impassively looking at Lexa. The transformation from a servant girl to the Commander of 12 Clans was so quick that it would take anyone a moment to remember that both the roles were played by the same woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here was the long awaited reunion chapter. Hope it was worth the wait. Anyways thanks for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay! I hope you like this chapter.

Lexa was radiating a powerful aura that was felt by all around her. Her stare held an intensity as she said, “I will hear what information you have Klark kom Skaikru. If I find it useful then I will consider this truce or else you will have to leave our lands by next day.” When Clarke heard her name being uttered by the brunette, she felt her heart skip a beat.

 

“It is fair. Thank you for giving an opportunity.” Clarke finally managed to answer to Lexa after processing everything that had happened. Now that the blonde got the chance to talk to the other girl, Clarke only had to convince the Commander to form an alliance between their people. It was easy said than done because unlike last time, she did not have a cured reaper to impress the Commander of twelve clans.

 

Lexa gave a nod in acknowledgement to Clarke and walked out of the cell. It was only after one of the warriors gave a push; Clarke snapped out of her daze and moved to follow the other girl.

 

However, once outside the cell, Clarke faltered in moving forward. As much as she was angry with both Kane and Jaha, she did not want to leave those two inside the cell. After another moment of hesitation, she reminded herself that Lexa was reasonable. She had not killed them before in the previous timeline even after the massacre had taken place and she did not kill Jaha after the attack right now. She would be reasonable not kill them both now.

 

The guards escorted Clarke outside towards the tents that had been erected. There was a flurry of activity around the area. Clarke assumed that it was because of the Commander visiting. When she moved towards the largest tent, Gustus stopped her from going inside. As soon as he did that, Clarke looked at him questioningly. She was wondering why he was stopping her when Lexa herself said she would talk to her.

 

Gustus simply replied, “Heda will call for you when she is ready.”

 

Just as Clarke was about to open her mouth to say something, she caught the sight of Anya striding in their direction. The grounder only stopped when she was a few yards away from where they were standing. She gave Clarke a short calculating look. Then without saying a word to the blonde, she turned her back to the other girl and moved towards the largest tent in the clearing which belonged to Lexa.

 

Anya was talking to the guards posted outside the tent. After a moment of tense conversation, one of the guards moved the flap of the tent aside to allow Anya entry.

  

* * *

 

Bellamy, Octavia, Raven and Finn were sitting on a table in the corner of dining area of Camp Jaha. Raven was discussing the jamming problem with them. Finn was quiet and not participating at all. His mind was somewhere else.

 

When Bellamy and Octavia left the table, Raven turned towards Finn and gave him a long look. She was sure that he had not even noticed that their companions had left the table. She placed her hand on his shoulder to get his attention and to snap him out of his thoughts. “What are you thinking so hard about?”

 

Finn closed his eyes and said in a low voice, “What I don’t understand is why we are wasting time here. Clarke needs us.”

 

Raven knitted up her eyebrows in a frown and said, “Clarke herself told you and Murphy that she wanted to go alone, Finn.”

 

“Of course she did that Raven. She didn’t want us to follow her.” Finn said exasperatedly. Raven just stared at his conflicting words. When he saw the look the girl in front was giving him, he continued angrily, “Why can’t anyone see that the grounder has taken her as prisoner!”

 

“Hard to be a prisoner while snatching the guns from you.” She said sarcastically. When Raven had heard the story of how Clarke had taken the guns from the boys, she had been astonished that the blonde had done that. But she could not believe what Finn was currently saying especially after hearing that story.

 

“Are you going to help me or not?” Finn stated with certain irritation as he waited impatiently for her reply. He was even tapping his right foot on the ground.

 

Raven was conflicted. She was certain that Clarke did not need help but if she did indeed then she would not be able to forgive herself. She let out a long sigh as caved in and said, “Alright, what do you need?”

 

* * *

 

It felt like hours to Clarke before Gustus came back outside walking towards her. He stopped in front of her and bent down so that he could speak in her ear. He spoke in a low threatening voice that only Clarke could hear, “If you so much as look at her the wrong way, I will slit your throat.”

 

Clarke turned herself slightly towards Gustus and stiffened her posture. She inclined her head and gave him a small nod to state that she understood. She had made a promise to herself that nobody was going to hurt Lexa and she intended to keep her promise no matter what.

 

The blonde strode inside the tent without any hesitancy. As she took in the interior of the tent, Clarke’s mind went to the first time she met Lexa. She had been sitting on the throne regally just as she was now, twirling her dagger with her fingers. The blonde could dream about those fingers all day along.

 

Clarke snapped out of her daydreams and noticed that Indra was standing towards right of the throne whereas Anya was on the left. Gustus took position behind Clarke ready to take her down if she appeared to be a threat. There was silence in the tent as nobody said a word.

 

Clarke noticed that Lexa was sizing her up. So she took the time to take in the figure on the throne. It seemed that Lexa had taken time to change out of the servant’s attire and was currently wearing the commander’s gear along with war paint. She looked fierce in her armor and blonde had to admit that the image formed was hot.

 

Without taking her eyes from the blonde, Lexa commanded, “Tell me Klark kom Skaikru, what information do you have?”

 

Clarke’s eyes flickered towards Anya for a second before looking into Lexa’s eyes. She was sure that Anya had already debriefed the brunette about their escape from the mountain and the information she had given the older woman while running out of the tunnels.

 

“As I already told you, both of our people are being held captive inside the mountain and I, along with Anya, escaped from that place. We could free our people from that horrid place, but to do that, we need to stand together. With my people’s knowledge of the mountain’s technology and your army, we could free our people and end this terror of mountain once and for all.” Clarke said with conviction. Silence followed after the speech ended. Everyone in the tent contemplated the words.

 

The quietness inside the tent was broken after a while by Lexa, “I heard you freed some of my people from the reapers.”

 

“Yes” was the simple reply from Clarke.

 

“You did that by ordering the reapers.” The words, ‘like the mountain men’ were left unsaid but everyone inside the tent heard them.

 

“While escaping from mountain men, I took the reaper controlling device they had among the other things.” Clarke stated with a smirk. She looked at the other occupants of the tent. She was surprised that Indra had not said a word against what she had been telling. But then again, it seemed that Anya talking to them first had somewhat proven the validity of her statements. Clarke gave a shrug and said, “That helped.”

 

Clarke let out a sigh and continued, “Look, my people do not want to fight with you especially when we can help each other to get both of our people out of that horrid place.” This statement seemed to have the reaction Clarke was waiting from Indra. The grounder had snorted her disbelief letting everyone know that she disagreed with the skaigada.

 

“And we only have your word that you and your people will provide assistance.” Lexa stated ignoring the interruption from Indra. Clarke was taken aback. In the previous timeline, this had not happened. Granted there always had been mistrust between the grounders and the sky people but never had Lexa voiced it aloud like that. Well, except for the time when Lexa suspected Raven trying to poison her.

 

It was then the implications of the statement dawned on Clarke. Lexa did not trust her at all. She felt despair setting in. Involuntarily, Clarke’s mind went towards that particular day on the mountain when the retreat was sounded by the Commander in front of her. She may have understood the decision made by the other girl that day but sometimes even now thinking about the betrayal it still hurts.

 

But that did not explain the mistrust openly voiced to her face. Then again, last time she had proven her worth by curing a reaper which she did not have on hand currently. The feat had been considered so impossible that it earned her the alliance with powerful Commander of the 12 clans. Granted she had to kill Finn but Lexa had started to trust her. Clarke’s mind went over the possibilities of what to do to earn the trust that she previously had with the brunette.

 

A thought crossed her mind. It was a bit reckless but she did not have any other plan. So, acting on the instinct alone and before she could back out, Clarke stated, “Then we shall bind ourselves in blood.”

 

Lexa was looking at Clarke intensely. The only indication that she was surprised by the words was the narrowing of her eyes. Clarke did not remove her eyes from the unwavering stare of the Heda but from the corner of her eyes, she could see that the grounders in front of her were taken aback. “Do you understand the implications of what you just said, Klark kom Skaikru?” Lexa questioned.

 

The last time Clarke had uttered those words, she had been planning to assassinate Nia by poisoning the blade; this time though she had no intention of doing the same to Lexa. She had no intention of breaking the vow she would made to this woman in front of her. She had no intention of betraying her love. If swearing this vow reduces the reservations Lexa has regarding her then Clarke would also gladly even swear fealty to her in front of the whole world.

 

It was with confidence Clarke replied, “Yes”

 

Lexa clutched the dagger in her hand and then regally stood up from the throne. She walked a few steps confidently ahead and halted facing Clarke. She lifted her right palm face up and without taking her eyes off the blonde; she made a cut on her palm with the dagger in her other hand.

 

“Oso tai choda op kom jus.” _We bind ourselves in blood._ The words seemed to echo inside the tent as the black blood dripped from the cut made.

 

Lexa handed over her dagger to Clarke after wiping off her blood on it with her sleeves. It was at this point Gustus interrupted his Heda but he was silenced with just a raised hand of Lexa. Clarke made a similar cut on her palm with Lexa’s dagger and repeated the words.

 

Nobody paid attention to what Clarke said in almost flawless trigedasleng as their attention was diverted to the black blood that was dripping from the fresh cut made by Clarke.

 

Lexa looked at the blood in shock and whispered, “Natblida.” It seemed that she was not the only one in shock, Clarke noted. The other grounders who saw her blood were shocked as well.

 

Looking into the green eyes Clarke said, “If you mean that my blood is black then yes.” She then grasped Lexa’s bleeding hand in her own in a handshake to complete the vow and seal the alliance. This brought Lexa out of her stupor. But as soon as the bleeding hand touched the other bleeding one and the blood mixed, an electric current passed through both of them. It started from their joined hands and passed throughout their body. The dagger in Clarke's hand fell on the ground with a clang.

 

Lexa’s other hand, the one which was not in Clarke’s grasp, grabbed the back of her neck as though in she were in pain. Lexa gritted her teeth and tried to breathe through the agony she was feeling.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and please leave a comment. Kudos are welcomed!


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